Principal R&D Mechanical Engineer, Robotics
Capstan Medical
Other Engineering
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Posted on Mar 25, 2026
Reports to: Managing Principle Mechanical Engineer, R&D
Workplace Type: Hybrid, on-site in Santa Cruz an average of 4-days per week
At Capstan Medical, we’re building one of the most exciting and innovative companies in medtech—developing a first-of-its-kind robotic platform for minimally invasive heart valve treatment. Our team combines surgical robotics, catheter-based delivery, and next-generation implants to transform complex procedures into safer, lower-stress solutions for patients and clinicians alike. As a highly collaborative, hands-on team, we move fast, wear multiple hats, and believe the best ideas can come from anyone.
Based in Santa Cruz, our unique workspace blends cutting-edge Bay Area innovation with a lifestyle-driven environment near trails, beaches, and open space—creating the perfect place to do meaningful, career-defining work.
The Opportunity:
We are building a novel medical robotic application, bringing together an exciting set of hardware and software into an elegant product. We are looking for someone who can take a mechanical system of the robot design from initial concept all the way to product.
What You’ll Do:
- Collaborate with Manufacturing and Clinical teams on designs, incorporating this input into quick and effective design iterations. Lead and set direction for system and subsystem architectures and mechanical design efforts while owning cross-functional mechanical deliverables and technical strategy
- Participate in building and bringing up prototype robotic systems and support all things mechanical in their pre-clinical lab use.
- Lead alignment of complex technical topics and hardware architecture across the Mechanical Engineering team and broadly across the R&D organization and Capstan.
- Document and communicate learnings on design manufacturability and reliability to the broader hardware team, mentoring others in best practices and scalable design approaches
- Document and communicate your work through design reviews and as appropriate released documents as part of the product development process
- Identify gaps and pitch in as needed to ensure that the team meets their goals and objectives, driving alignment across teams when priorities conflict
- Strengthen the team by providing leadership and mentorship on best practices and design strategies as they grow in their abilities to develop performant, scalable, and elegant designs. Be a valuable partner with feedback and collaboration in brainstorming and design reviews.
What You’ll Need:
- BS in Mechanical Engineering or related engineering discipline, or equivalent work experience
- Expecting 12+ years of relevant experience (medical device experience preferred)
- Comfort working with high levels of ambiguity and an ability to convert that into tangible outcomes
- Experience with designing, manufacturing transfer, and shipping of medical device capital equipment or equivalent complexity systems
- Deep expertise in areas particular to robotic system design: kinematics, mechanisms, bearings, gears, sensors, actuators.
- Experience with medical device (or equivalent) development process, design control, design verification, and regulatory processes
- Ability to work in a hybrid work environment, working onsite in Santa Cruz on average 4 days a week
Ways To Stand Out:
- Experience with the full commercial lifecycle from concept through reacting to and addressing field issues with your designs.
- Skills with Python or Matlab for data analysis, simulation, and interacting with robotic equipment.
- Excessive nerdiness about manufacturing, mechanisms, robots, or any other adjacencies.
- Leadership experience. While this role is as an individual contributor, it is a position of significant technical and thought leadership within the company.
Why Join Us:
- We offer a fun, fast-paced, collaborative environment where you will be working on transformational technologies in the cardiac healthcare space.
- We offer outstanding benefits with medical, dental, and vision covered at 100% for you and your family, as well as flex time off.
- We thrive in our work-hard, play-hard environment. Bring your bike or running shoes if you’d like or just be ready to enjoy a fun office outing. We enjoy time inside the office and out!
We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and disability, or other legally protected status.